WZND-LP (103.3 MHz FM) is a

low-power FM Low-power broadcasting is broadcasting by a broadcast station at a low transmitter power output to a smaller service area than "full power" stations within the same region. It is often distinguished from "micropower broadcasting" (more commonl ...

radio station licensed for Bloomington,

McLean County, Illinois McLean County is a U.S. county in the east central region of Illinois, and is the largest county by land area in the state. According to the 2020 Census, it had a population of 170,954. Its county seat is Bloomington. McLean County is includ ...

, United States. The station is staffed by students of

Illinois State University Illinois State University (ISU) is a public research university in Normal, Illinois, United States. It was founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University and is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teachin ...

and airs music from genres including rock, hip-hop, classic, pop, and country. WZND has received many awards including the 2018 BEA Best College Station in the Nation award.

History

ISU student radio

Student broadcasting at Illinois State University began in 1935 in a partnership with McLean County radio station WJBC. WILN, a campus radio station, was started in 1965 with the assistance of Ruth Yates and broadcast to the dorms. On March 18, 1981, WILN changed its name to WZND At first branded "The Sound" and later in 1983 "Cable’s Hot Music FM, The New WZND", the station reached five thousand to ten thousand people. WZND broadcast progressive rock, new wave sound, soul, and aired local soul, jazz, and spot band music. In 2001 WZND rebranded to Z106 On April 4, 2007, WZND switched formats to include 90s music in addition to alternative rock. In January 2010, WZND changed to a college shuffle format, playing a wide variety of genres. The station was rebranded "WZND Fuzed Radio". WZND has had several locations on campus. Its original location was in Cook Hall in 1981, but moved to Old Union (then called the Media Services Building) in 1985. In the spring of 1994, WZND relocated to its current location in the basement of Fell Hall.

103.3

Rock In Victory Ministries, Inc., a Catholic ministry, received a license for WEWT-LP on 103.3, and began broadcasting on September 21, 2004, airing a

Christian contemporary music Contemporary Christian music (CCM), also known as Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music, is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christian faith an ...

format. The

Foundation acquired the 103.3 broadcast license on September 14, 2011. Truth 103 shut down FM broadcasting in the early morning hours of September 16, 2011 for financial reasons, but Truth 103 continued as an Internet streaming program afterwards.

WZND-LP

103.3 came back on the air at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, September 27, 2011, broadcasting the existing Illinois State University campus radio station, WZND. The 103.3 call sign officially changed from WEWT-LP to WZND-LP on October 12, 2011. In 2013, WZND was featured nationally on

mtvU MTVU (formerly stylized as MtvU and mtvU) is an American digital cable TV channel owned by the MTV Entertainment Group, a unit of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. MTVU programming initially served 750 college and univ ...

References

External links